Ministry of Health, Italy

The protection of public health in the years immediately following the unification of Italy was entrusted to the Ministry of the Interior, where a special General Directorate of Public Health was established, which availed itself of the assistance of the Higher Health Council as a technical consultative body, while on the periphery the Provincial Health Offices were established.

Immediately after the Second World War, in 1945, the function of public health at the national level was placed under the direct control of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, establishing the High Commissioner for Hygiene and Public Health.

The Ministry of Health as a public administration was born on March 13, 1958 with the need to fully implement the provisions of the Constitution which, in art. 32, states: “The Republic protects health as a fundamental right of the individual and interest of the community, and guarantees free care to the indigent”.

Subsequently, on 23 December 1978, with Law 833, the National Health Service (SSN) was established, a system of structures and services that aim to guarantee all citizens, in conditions of equality, universal access to the equitable provision of health services, in implementation of the aforementioned art. 32 of the Constitution. The Italian health model, universalistic and based on solidarity, ensures care and assistance to all, regardless of nationality, residence and income.

With the reform of Title V of the Italian Constitution (law no. 3/2001) the concurrent legislative power of the State and the Regions in matters of health protection was introduced.

According to the articulation of competences established by the Italian Constitution, the public health function is exercised by two levels of government: the State, which defines the essential levels of assistance (LEA) and the overall amount of financial resources necessary for their financing, and the Regions, which have the task of organizing the respective Regional Health Services (SSR) and ensuring the provision of the related services in compliance with the LEA.

In the field of safety, the Ministry of Health has a strong peculiarity, that is, it is structured according to a “one health” model, where there is a unitary vision of health that passes through that of animals and reaches man. In fact, the Italian Ministry extends its competences also to animal health and food safety and in the territorial prevention departments of the SSN there are 3 areas of intervention of the veterinary services in addition to the medical ones.